USC hopes that piling up big plays can help it address its Big Ten road woes

"Teams that win the explosive play battles typically win games, so it’s good,” coach Lincoln Riley said after a 59-20 win over Georgia Southern on Saturday. “I mean, we’re making some big plays on all sides, which is great. It doesn’t mean it will always be like that, so we’re also looking to play clean and very efficient as well. But, yeah, seeing some explosive plays, obviously, it takes some of the pressure of just the play-to-play execution.”

USC (2-0) couldn’t find enough ways to move the ball vertically in its first go-round as a member of the Big Ten, winning one of its five league road games, with the lone victory coming at crosstown rival UCLA. The offense generated six plays of 40 yards or longer and two touchdowns over 25 yards in those contests, putting undue pressure on the unit to execute long drives down the field.

That stands in contrast to the seven touchdowns of at least 36 yards that USC had in its two-game homestand to start this season, with Riley crediting more consistency on the offensive line for making things easier. All five starters have been developed from within the program, a contrast to the heavy reliance on transfer linemen to fill the group over the previous two years.

“We’ve played pretty sound,” Riley said. “We’ve made very few big mistakes, so I think the guys have been steady, been locked in, have been well prepared, and I think that’s good to see.”

Improvement up front, combined with quarterback Jayden Maiava's mobility in the pocket, has resulted in more opportunities to get the ball out in space in the passing game, such as on wide receiver Makai Lemon's touchdown catches of 62 and 74 yards in the first quarter against the Eagles.

On the 62-yard score, Lemon broke through the tackle of a linebacker after catching a curl route, slipped another tackle attempt and raced the last 49 yards to the end zone. It was the kind of electricity that Maiava knows his skill players will generate once they get into the open field.

“Shoot, obviously, it puts up numbers like we do as a offense as a whole, score a lot of touchdowns,” Maiava said.

In the running game, junior college transfer Waymond Jordan and former New Mexico tailback Eli Sanders have added liveliness. Jordan has carries of 26, 36 and 35 yards through two games, and Sanders produced a 73-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown in the opener against Missouri State.

Jordan, who has 209 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries to start his Trojans career, could have jumped to the FBS earlier but remained in Hutchinson, Kansas, for one more season last year to further refine his game.

“It will all pay out in the end,” Jordan said of his reasoning. “Don’t just jump ship for the first thing.”

Now, the 5-foot-10, 210-pound Jordan is looking forward to his first road trip in major college football, which will be a far cry from the long bus rides that made up all but one road trip of his time playing at the community college level.

“Horrible, horrible bus rides,” Jordan said. “No leg room. Sometimes you got to lay on the floor just to be able to stretch out.”

Jordan and his teammates should not be lacking for space on the trip to West Lafayette, Indiana, as Riley said the Trojans will use larger planes for their charter flights this season, just one of the changes made in an effort to address the poor road record.

“They’re going to like more leg room,” Riley said. “Who doesn’t like more leg room, right?”

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